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Why American cities are weirdly shaped

economist.com

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Re: Why American cities are weirdly shaped

#111

Post by pokemongoaway »

scarejunba wrote: post #108
xte wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a result of Japan environment (not only natural), they are too much and too concentrated as a result they can't live relaxed, they can only stress themselves. Few that born or arrive to a "comfort position" tend to exceed in any behavior, others whip themselves to the extreme. That's why we read about people who die working too much, who close themselves in their room for months or years, they use big load of an…

Not convincing. The inner boroughs of London are as dense as Tokyo and a dream to live in. Your hypotheses have not faced adequate tests of falsification yet.

Have a reference for this? They're a "dream to live in" because they're not nearly as densely populated, especially at night. Who could just move to Greenwich London, for example? Taking this inner borough as an example, it is very green with huge parks - which makes it more relaxed and less densely populated.

As an aside, the censorship and flagging on HN is still ruthless and ridiculous. And the admins need to start reversing shadow bans (like mine) that they cannot defend.

Re: Why American cities are weirdly shaped

#112

Post by quanticle »

bane wrote: post #92
tboyd47 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's sometimes useful for non-Americans to think of the U.S. like a federation of weak semi-autonomous countries. That may have been true in the 18th and 19th century, but since the early 1900s, I don't think it's accurate to say that anymore. Nearly every state power has been checked by the federal court system at some point during the 20th century [0]. I didn't know about the Police-Jury system, but it's surely t…

> Wouldn't you agree that state and local governments mostly act within the bounds defined by the federal government? I agree that the Federal government trumps the State government, but I'm not sure that I envision it as "bounds defined by" and more as whenever the random walk of the Federal government intersects with a more local one, the Fed wins. There are plenty of areas that the Federal government can't be both…

I agree that the Federal government trumps the State government, but I'm not sure that I envision it as "bounds defined by" and more as whenever the random walk of the Federal government intersects with a more local one, the Fed wins.

Even that isn't always true. In many notable cases (marijuana, gay marriage, segregation) states openly defied the federal government and the federal government let things stand because it would cost too much to intervene to get the states to obey the federal government.

Re: Why American cities are weirdly shaped

#113

Post by pm90 »

bane wrote: post #92
tboyd47 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's sometimes useful for non-Americans to think of the U.S. like a federation of weak semi-autonomous countries. That may have been true in the 18th and 19th century, but since the early 1900s, I don't think it's accurate to say that anymore. Nearly every state power has been checked by the federal court system at some point during the 20th century [0]. I didn't know about the Police-Jury system, but it's surely t…

> Wouldn't you agree that state and local governments mostly act within the bounds defined by the federal government? I agree that the Federal government trumps the State government, but I'm not sure that I envision it as "bounds defined by" and more as whenever the random walk of the Federal government intersects with a more local one, the Fed wins. There are plenty of areas that the Federal government can't be both…

They're not the same though. Even though Americans consider their state identities to be strong and unique, if you look at how states are generally organized in the old world, its generally by ethnicity, language or some other very strong form of strong shared identity. So while a person from California and Texas might be very different, the difference is likely much smaller than b/w a French person and a German person (although of course this varies).

There is also the very strong belief in, and the common acceptance of, American identity as being the more defining identity, whereas not so much in the EU.

Re: Why American cities are weirdly shaped

#114

Post by stale2002 »

EGreg wrote: post #70

I want libertarians and anarchists to read this kind of stuff and start to consider that maybe cities are organizations that compete and cooperate, just like companies and unions. Disneyworld is a city owned by a corporation, next door is a democratically run city. The Disney corporation has a sort of democracy of sharholders too, which elects a board etc. Businesses renting space in DisneyWorld are not much differen…

This argument only works if you are a person who believes that every inch should be effectively owned by governments.

So it is not competition. When you purchase land, it doesn't really belong to you. It belongs to the government, as you still have to pay their fee, which can increase at any time without you having a choice.

It would be wonderful if it were possible to buy land, and that land actually belonged to you. This is unfortunately impossible, though, so it makes no sense to talk about competition. It is not a free market.

Re: Why American cities are weirdly shaped

#115

Post by jeromebaek »

Surprised this article doesn't talk at depth about the one obvious reason why American cities are shaped like something a deranged computer spat out.

Racial segregation, obviously, is the biggest reason and perhaps the source of all other reasons. City planners in the early 19th and 20th centuries had racial segregation as their overriding goal to the detriment of common sense or logic.

Re: Why American cities are weirdly shaped

#117

Post by EGreg »

stale2002 wrote: post #114
EGreg wrote: post #70

I want libertarians and anarchists to read this kind of stuff and start to consider that maybe cities are organizations that compete and cooperate, just like companies and unions. Disneyworld is a city owned by a corporation, next door is a democratically run city. The Disney corporation has a sort of democracy of sharholders too, which elects a board etc. Businesses renting space in DisneyWorld are not much differen…

This argument only works if you are a person who believes that every inch should be effectively owned by governments. So it is not competition. When you purchase land, it doesn't really belong to you. It belongs to the government, as you still have to pay their fee, which can increase at any time without you having a choice. It would be wonderful if it were possible to buy land, and that land actually belonged to you…

Not exactly. Land is owned by organizations, governments are just who is running the organizations — a chess club is not the same as its president and secretary.

When Walt Disney World purchased land, it could actually administer an entire city there.

What you are talking about is called Sovereign Ownership (alloidal title). Like the Royal Family in England has a bunch of grounds where there is no higher landlord. Theoretically they can murder people there and the police can’t do anything about it. States on the other hand don’t own land in the way that you’re saying. There are overlapping jurisdictions and laws, and compacts, in practice. Many of the states were commonwealths (eg Virginia) of cities before they joined the union. The history of states is just people and organizations joining forces into larger legal organizations.

Re: Why American cities are weirdly shaped

#118

Post by golemiprague »

mikestew wrote: post #60
chrisseaton wrote: post #2

My understanding is that a city boundary in the US is a big deal. The police force on either side can be completely different, things that can get you in a lot of trouble like gun laws can be different on either side, prices and taxes can be very different. In the UK a city boundary doesn't really mean anything. There might be a nice 'Welcome to X' sign but nothing really changes as it would in the US. I'm not even s…

My understanding is that a city boundary in the US is a big deal. I’d be hard-pressed to think of a time it made a lick of difference to me, having lived in the U. S. my entire life. “Don’t carry a handgun to Chicago”, okay, file that one away. “If you’re black”, and I’m not, “don’t stop for gas in Martinsville, IN”. Though that one might not still be true, I’d still stay away from Elwood, my Afro-American friend. Ot…

Give me a break, we all know that there are much more places in Chicago where white people will be afraid to go to than places where black people should worry about. Also, what it got to do with the discussion? this is a whole other issue

Re: Why American cities are weirdly shaped

#119

Post by pseudolus »

Not entirely pertinent to the discussion of city boundaries but Mark Stein wrote an interesting book a few years ago called "How the States Got their Shapes" [0]. It was apparently also made into a show on the History Channel.

[0]: https://www.amazon.com/How-States-Got-Their-Shapes/dp/006143...

Re: Why American cities are weirdly shaped

#120

Post by sudden »

pfdzm wrote: post #6
suddenstutter wrote: post #5

The answer is simple: Theyre weirdly shaped because transportation systems are not privatised. This forces businesses to accomodate to older routes and geographical layouts, making cities not only weirdly shaped but also monotonous in progress and boring.

Did you read the article? In fact it claims that part of the reason for the lack of good public transport in the US is due to the extreme fragmentation present in some counties. Cooperation between neighboring cities is lacking, making planning and securing sensible infrastructure projects a much harder task compared to a ‘monolithic’ city.

What youre saying has nothing to do with my comment.
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